Structure.Deliver Settings

When you first install Structure.Deliver, you need to provide some basic information about how your organization uses the data in Jira to describe and plan projects. This information allows Structure.Deliver to better predict future project timelines. You can change these settings at any time by clicking the Settings icon in the left navigation bar.

Estimation Level

Estimation-level issue types are used to describe large chunks of work. In most organizations this will be the Epic issue type. At this time, Structure.Deliver only supports epics for the estimation level.

Scope Level

Select all Jira issue types that are used to describe a chunk of work engineers can work on and deliver in short iterations. In most organizations this will be the Story issue type. Many organizations also use Bug and Task to define this kind of work. You can specify all of the issue types Structure.Deliver should consider when determining scope for a delivery.

Scope level items must be linked to the estimation level using the "Epic Link" field. This is how Structure.Deliver determines which scope-level items belong to which item at the estimation level.

Note that Structure.Deliver does not track sub-tasks. Do not select Sub-task in this configuration, unless you have verified that it is appropriate for your case, which it most likely is not.

Issues that are bugs

Select the issue types used for tracking bugs or quality issues. Structure.Deliver displays existing bugs as separate lines on the chart. It does not predict how many bugs will appear in the future.

Work Done Resolution

Specify which resolution fields are used to indicate a team expended effort on an issue and then completed it. Structure.Deliver tracks the rate at which teams get work done. In order to do this accurately, it needs to know if work was done on an issue that has been moved into a done state.

Do not include resolutions that indicated a ticket was closed but did not require any significant work from the team (such as duplicates or work that the team has decided not to do).

Issue Added

Specify which date field indicates when an issue was added to a delivery. If you are unsure, select “Created”.

This can be any date field, but is usually set to the “created” field, meaning the date the issue was created. This is not always the most accurate date to use (some issues may linger in Jira for a long time before being worked on), but it is a date all issues will have.

Issue Started

Select the status category that indicates work on an issue has started. If you are unsure what to select, choose “First Transition to In Progress” - this will select the status category for all in-progress work.

Organizations typically have many teams, and each team may have its own workflow with various statuses unique to that team. For example, one team may use a status called “In Progress,” another “WIP," another “In Development,” and still another might use “Started.” To capture all of these statuses, Jira provides something called “status categories.” The default Jira configuration includes three status categories: Todo, In Progress, and Done. All statuses are categorized into one of these three status categories. If you select the status category “In Progress” then all of the statuses in the example above would be included, which is what we most likely want.

Choosing a Specific Status

To select a specific workflow status rather than a status category, use the advanced settings dialog accessible by clicking the gear icon. The advanced dialog allows any workflow status to indicate work started. Keep in mind that in most cases using a specific status rather than a status category is the wrong setting. Only use the advanced setting if you have a clear reason for doing so.

Issue Completed

Select the status category that indicates work on an issue has been completed. 

Teams may be using many different workflow statuses, such as “Done,” “Closed,” and “Complete” to indicate that work on an issue is done. It is best to use the Jira status category for “Done” so all workflow states that are considered a done state will be used by Structure.Deliver.

Choosing a Specific Status

To select a specific workflow status rather than a status category, use the advanced settings dialog accessible by clicking the gear icon. The advanced dialog allows any workflow status to indicate work completed. Keep in mind that in most cases using a specific status rather than a status category is the wrong setting. Only use the advanced setting if you have a clear reason for doing so.